Why Liam isn’t at full-back and the challenge to seal places for the World Cup
OPPORTUNITY knocks for a number of Wales players tomorrow after Warren Gatland made 14 changes to his starting line-up to take on Tonga in the third game of the autumn series.
Gatland faced the media at the Vale Resort after unveiling his lineup.
Here is what he had to say.
You have handed Jonah Holmes his first cap, what are his qualities and why have you chosen him at full-back rather than wing? Warren Gatland:
“Look, he has impressed us in training so far, he gets an opportunity.
“Full-back is a position where we want to create depth. He has been a top try-scorer for Leicester playing on the wing, before he went to Leicester he was top try-scorer in the Championship with Leeds.
“We know what we have got with Liam, he can cover wing, he plays on the wing for Saracens and we know he can do a job at full-back as well.”
Is there a lot of responsibility on Dan Biggar with an inexperienced backline outside him? WG:
“The responsibility is not so much on Dan, as really on those players coming into the side.
“The biggest thing that is going to affect their performance is not their ability as rugby players, it is potentially their lack of communication, lack of talk and being quiet on the field.
“That is kind of what we have been telling the players this week is making sure they communicate from the outside in, information goes through everyone and everyone is comfortable in their roles.
“Mistakes don’t happen sometimes on the field because of lack of skill, sometimes they happen because of a lack of communication and the small chat that you are looking for between players on the field.
“That is going to be their challenge this week. For Dan, it is about going out there and take his opportunity starting at 10 and just concentrating very much on his own performance.”
Do players have extra latitude because they haven’t played together? WG:
“The challenge for us is that what has been very positive about our first two games is the reduction in the amount of turnovers we have had, they have been very low against Scotland and Australia, significantly lower than we have had in the past.
“What has hurt us in the past is when we have made a lot of changes, unfortunately our turnover rate goes up quite exponentially.
“That is what hurts, it is not the ability of the players, it is about being accurate.
“For that group of players it is first of all about being accurate and then looking to take their opportunities.”
Ellis Jenkins, what sort of captain is he? WG:
“It is his first game captaining the side at home. In fairness, both he and Cory Hill did a brilliant job in the summer, Cory got the opportunity to captain it twice, we felt it was Ellis’ turn for the second time for a bit of continuation of the summer..
“Look, he came on and made a really good impact versus Australia. He is an intelligent rugby player, he can cover across the back row.
“I don’t think he is too worried about the captaincy, it is about his performance being really important.
“I think he will do a good job and hopefully get some of those guys around him to support him.”
Are these players realistically playing for starting places against South Africa or squad places for Six Nations and World Cup? WG:
“No, They are definitely playing for spots, there is no doubt about that in a number of positions.
“In one or two positions we are looking at cover in terms of what a World Cup squad might look like in terms of some positional cover.
“That could come down to anything. It could come down to what we decide the make-up of the World Cup squad will be, whether it will be 18/13 split or 17/14.
“Do you take five props, do you take two or three 10s, what is your mix between back row and second row. There is a little bit of that in terms of certain positions.
“We have spoken about depth, but it is not about creating depth in terms of a strong second team, we want 31 players in that World Cup squad who can feel comfortable about starting and are really fighting for starting positions and we have gone a long way to achieving that.
“There is a big challenge for those players to go out this weekend and give a really good performance of accuracy and pride around that jersey. The next step is to put us under pressure as coaches and selectors to make it hard when selecting the team next week for South Africa.”
What do you expect from Tonga? WG: “
They have been strong. The boys had a good win against them in Auckland in 2017, which was a tough game.
“Tonga had a pretty comprehensive win against the French Barbarians last weekend. They have a game under their belt and will be confident.
“They have come from the Pacific Nations Cup and done extremely well.
“We are expecting them to be physical, direct, they have a big forward pack, big carriers in the back line and we have to play with a tempo and accuracy ourselves to try and make it as uncomfortable as we possibly can for them.”
A word on Liam Williams on his 50th cap? WG:
“He has been great in the squad and is definitely a crowd favourite. He has got better season after season.
“He is such a combative, competitive sort of player, he puts his body on the line and hopefully goes